By: Kandjengo Mkwaanyoka
I was dropped off in Ondobe at around 06:40, in front of Tatekulu Nelulu’s building, a short distance from the main road that passes through from Onhuno to Eenhana.
Apart from the vehicles passing through the small settlement, it was as silent as midnight, which was surprising because dawn was breaking.
I finally saw two young men standing over a modified wheelbarrow with some smoke coming out.
As I approached, I realised the wheelbarrow was a modified braaing stand. I greeted them in English, which made them a bit uncomfortable, aided by my torn jeans, big bucket hat, and shades early in the morning.
It was very cold, and I needed to warm myself.
Since I was walking on the graves of my ancestors, I quickly switched to Mandume’s language (Oshikwanyama), and the two youths responded well.
We chatted as the firewood of Omupupwaheke burned slowly to make the needed charcoal. Apparently, you don’t braai on the flames but on the charcoal.
The wheelbarrow braaing stand is used to braai chakalaka wors, which are cut and sold for N$2 or N$5 per piece.
During this process of warming ourselves, I took pictures and asked all my ignorant economic-oriented questions.
I asked where everyone was, considering it was past 07:00. Their answer was in unison, like a chorus: “People in this town wake up late, they are not serious.”
While we chatted about entrepreneurship and why he was late, a 7-seater popped up, and another young man emerged, asking for two N$5 pieces of sausage and fat cakes.
My new friend responded that the wors was not ready and that he was late for this particular day. I realised that he had some regular clients who passed by for his wors.
As we continued chatting, another young chap joined us.
He was a mobile recharge (airtime) vendor carrying a transparent plastic bag of short sausages as a diversification strategy.
While the wors vendor prepared the customer’s order, I noticed a smoked bird on the side. When I asked, he said it was a goose that flew into a car yesterday and would be his lunch.
By 08:00, more young boys started popping up or walking across the road to open their ghetto shafts and set up for the day.
Young women soon joined in, and I was amased by the number of young people I saw that morning as they woke up to their hustle.
I roamed around to observe their entrepreneurial ventures and noticed a pattern consistent with other regions: barbershops, phone repairs, airtime vendors, wors and fat cakes, secondhand clothes, and Havaianas – nothing much.
The determination and energy were good, and I appreciated that more boys were selling, unlike in Windhoek at Stop and Shop, where it’s mostly women.
However, I felt sad because there wasn’t much to do there.
I figured that the absence of older people could be due to Ondobe settlement being in the middle of Ondobe Village, a rural setting.
The young ones leave the village to come to urban settings.
This saddened me more as this approach or economic model is self-defeating and quite shallow.
These young people do not know what they have in the village and the fact that it can be used for entrepreneurial purposes.
Unfortunately, after our so-called education, I too left the village. In other words, I abandoned the village resources and sought a job in an urban area.
This economic model needs to be debunked and buried so that our young people get educated and stay in the village to make use of the land and other resources at a commercial level.
The urban-driven economy has led to urbanisation and underutilisation of rural riches in our country.
So, it is my sincere call and request to the government to stop proclaiming more urban settings in our regions because it is bad for economic building and restructuring and is fueling urbanisation.
Kandjengo Mkwaanyoka
gerastus16@gmail.com
